You’re hosting a huge event and getting things organized. You’ve figured out the date, the time, the guest list, and the food. Now you just have to figure out drinks.
This is where you’ve hit a roadblock. How are you going to handle the drink situation?
You decide you want to serve alcohol, but how? You don’t have much money left in your budget.
What is a cash bar? A cash bar operates like any other commercial bar experience – guests can order whatever they want but are expected to pay (and tip) the bar staff after each round.
Open Bar, Then Cash Bar
Get the best of both worlds with this option! You can offer an open bar for the first hour or two of your event and then turn it into a cash bar.
This is a great option because you’ll still be considered a fantastic host, but won’t necessarily be draining your savings.
As with a regular cash bar, you need to let guests know that the open bar will only be open for the beginning of the event.
Im planning DHs 40th for later this year (summer). We have a preferred venue (meaningful to us) and its not hideously expensive to hire, but add catering in and suddenly my budget is blown! I earn a lot less than DH and would really like to cover this myself especially as its meant to be a surprise, which I can do but only if I dont pay for everyones drinks. Until Ive worked out all my options, Im not sure whether it will be a small sit-down dinner and then everyone else along afterwards (in style of evening wedding reception) or just a free-for-all buffet and hope Ive got the amount of food roughly right. I think it would be a bit cheeky to ask people who are coming from a long way to a party that isnt catered, so I think the buffet option is the only way forward, but then the numbers increases the catering budget to the point where I cant afford to pay for one round of drinks, let alone a free bar. Im also quite worried about wasting money needlessly. A lot of DHs friends, especially the ones who would have to travel, are quite unreliable (getting RSVPs for our wedding was a nightmare, I left DH to it and there was still some uncertainty on the day), so I dont want to commit to a certain amount of catering and then see food going to waste when that money could have been used on drinks instead. However, would be awful to not have enough food. The variation based on unreliable friends is over 50% of the guestlist, so quite a big difference! Thing is, I dont want to say anything to people until I have a better idea of what Im doing, but then again I need a fairly good idea of numbers to be able to budget properly! So main question atm is, is it ok to have a paid bar? Just one drink on arrival would add about another 25% to the budget, and I cant cut that off the food bill without being in serious danger of severely under-catering. The venue is a pub, so its not like hotel prices for drinks…
Ive never been to or even heard of anyone else going to a party with a free bar. Id always expect to pay for my own drinks.
dh and I hired a hall for our 40th – we had a buffet (the venue provided it and we paid for it) and hired a dj and the venue had a bar so everyone bought their own drinks. We didnt buy the first drink for everyone either.
I think I must have really poor or tight friends. A birthday party, engagement party, wedding reception etc all involve hiring the pub function room, someones mum doing a buffet and all pay for your own drinks (all of them). I think I live in a different world to mumsnet sometimes.
I have not ever been to a party where drinks have been paid for by the host ! Always expected to pay for our own drinks.
How To Order A Drink At A Bar
FAQ
Does an open bar mean free?
Does a cash bar mean they only take cash?
How do you say cash bar in a polite way?
Is it normal to have a cash bar at a wedding?
What is a paid bar?
Sometimes this is done by an approximate spend per head, and sometimes this is done by totting up exactly what your guests spend at the end of the night, and billing you the extra. In comparison, a paid bar – or a cash bar – is a bar that just operates like a normal pub, whereby your guests pay for their own drinks.
What is a paid bar at a wedding?
In comparison, a paid bar – or a cash bar – is a bar that just operates like a normal pub, whereby your guests pay for their own drinks. Either way, as the team at The Pantry Events explains, “A well stocked bar at a wedding is a must, you don’t want guests being without a drink during the evening when the party has started!”
What is a cash bar?
A cash bar operates like any other commercial bar experience – guests can order whatever they want but are expected to pay (and tip) the bar staff after each round. By making your guests pay for their own drinks, they’ll drink less, resulting in less drunkenness and more engagement with the other aspects of your event.
What is the difference between open bar and cash bar?
The open bar option lets your guests order any drink they’d like throughout the evening, and you’ll pay for the entire final tab. Cash Bar With a cash bar, your guests will purchase all of their own drinks. We’ll supply house wines, beer, and an assortment of liquors and mixed drinks so that your guests will have plenty to choose from.